Etsy fees: what sellers really pay and keep in 2026

You list an item for $25, make a sale, and the payout that lands is closer to $22 than $25. That's because Etsy doesn't charge a single fee. There's the listing fee, transaction fee, payment processing fee, and, if the sale comes through Offsite Ads, an advertising fee that can significantly increase your total costs. Individually, each fee seems small, but together they have a bigger impact than most sellers expect.

In return, those fees buy access to a marketplace of active buyers and a platform that handles your sales-tax compliance.

This guide gives a balanced view of both sides. It breaks down every fee, and what it costs you, what you get in return (including Etsy acting as the merchant of record for tax), and how to price so your margin holds after Etsy takes its cut.

Quick answer: On a typical US sale, Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the full order total (including shipping), and 3% + $0.25 in payment processing. That comes to roughly 9.5% plus fixed fees before any advertising. Offsite Ads add 12% to 15% when a sale comes through them, capped at $100 per order.

How much are Etsy's fees?

Etsy charges a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the full order total including shipping, and 3% + $0.25 in US payment processing on every sale. There's no monthly fee to open a shop, so most of what you pay is per listing and per sale.

Two things are worth pointing out before the details. The 6.5% transaction fee applies to shipping, not just the item price, so raising shipping to lower the item price doesn't reduce what Etsy takes. And Offsite Ads are not optional once your shop passes $10,000 in annual sales, at which point the fee stops being something you can switch off.

What Etsy's fees pay for

Etsy's fees buy two things a standalone store doesn't come with: a marketplace of tens of millions of active buyers, and sales-tax compliance handled for you. That's the trade-off behind the percentage, and it's worth weighing before deciding that the fees are too high.

The first payoff is discovery. Shoppers come to Etsy ready to buy and search across shops, so a new listing can reach people who have never heard of you. For a maker without an email list or an ad budget, that built-in traffic is the main reason the fees can be worth paying.

The second is tax. Etsy acts as the merchant of record for tax: as a marketplace facilitator, it calculates, collects, and remits US sales tax, VAT, and GST in the places where they apply, so you don't have to register and file in each state or country yourself. Handling that compliance alone costs time and accountancy fees, and on Etsy, it's included in what you pay. You also get the operational basics: secure checkout, buyer-to-seller messaging, discounted shipping labels, and Etsy's dispute handling.

Where the trade-off starts to tip is ownership. Etsy keeps the customer relationship, limits how far you can brand the experience, and charges the same cut on a loyal repeat buyer as on a first-time discovery. That's the case for keeping Etsy for reach while building your own channel alongside it, which the pricing section comes back to.

Etsy fees by type

Etsy's costs split into fees you always pay (listing, transaction, processing) and fees that depend on what you do (ads, currency conversion, subscriptions). Here's how each one works.

Listing fee

Every item costs $0.20 to list, in US dollars, regardless of where you sell from. A listing stays active for four months or until the item sells, then renews at another $0.20. If you sell multiples of the same item, each additional quantity sold also triggers a $0.20 renewal, so a listing with 10 sales costs $2.00 in listing fees over its life.

Transaction fee

Etsy takes 6.5% of the order total on every sale. That total is the price you display plus what you charge for shipping and gift wrapping, though it excludes sales tax collected for US buyers. Because shipping is included in the base, a $20 item with $5 shipping is charged 6.5% on the full $25, not on $20.

Payment processing fee

Etsy Payments processes the card and takes a cut on top of the transaction fee. In the US, that's 3% + $0.25 per order. This is a separate line from the 6.5%, and it applies to the full amount the buyer pays. Rates vary by country, so a UK or EU shop pays a different processing rate (see the UK section below).

Etsy Ads and Offsite Ads

These two sound similar but work differently, and the difference matters for your costs.

Etsy Ads (onsite): you set a daily budget, and Etsy promotes your listings in its own search results, charging per click. It's optional, and you control the spend.

Offsite Ads: Etsy advertises your products on Google, Meta, and other platforms, and charges a fee only when a sale results from one of those ads. The fee is 15% of the order for shops with annual sales under $10,000, dropping to 12% once you exceed $10,000. Shops above that threshold cannot opt out. The fee is capped at $100 per order, which softens the hit on high-value sales but does little for a typical craft price point.

Currency conversion and subscription

If you list in a currency different from your payout currency, Etsy adds a 2.5% conversion fee on the sale amount. Separately, Etsy Plus is an optional subscription (around $10 per month) that adds listing credits and shop customization; most sellers don't need it, and it doesn't change the per-sale fees above.

What you actually keep on an Etsy sale

Etsy's base fees take about 10% to 14% of a sale, but a single Offsite Ads charge can push the effective rate past 25%, so what you keep depends heavily on how the buyer found you. The table below shows the fee stack on a US sale with free shipping, before your own product costs.

The fixed $0.20 listing and $0.25 processing fees weigh more heavily on cheap items, which is why a $10 sale loses 14% to base fees, while a $100 sale loses under 10%. Offsite Ads then roughly double the effective rate whenever they trigger.

Materials make the real margin tighter still. Take a handmade item you sell for $25 with $6 in materials: without ads, you keep about $16 after Etsy's cut, a 65% margin on the sale; if that same order comes through Offsite Ads, you keep about $12, closer to 50%. Neither figure counts your time.

How we calculated these fees: figures use Etsy's published US rates (June 2026): $0.20 listing, 6.5% transaction on the order total, and 3% + $0.25 payment processing, with Offsite Ads at 15% for shops under $10,000 in annual sales. Examples assume free shipping, so the order total equals the displayed price. Your real rate varies with shipping, currency, and whether a sale comes through ads.

Etsy fees for digital products

Digital downloads pay the same 6.5% transaction fee and 3% + $0.25 processing fees as physical items, but with no materials or shipping to fund, more of each sale stays with you. A $12 printable sold without ads keeps roughly $10.60 after Etsy's cut, and there's no per-order cost beyond the fees themselves.

For digital sellers, the pressure comes from volume and competition rather than the fees themselves. Printables, templates, and digital art are easy for buyers to find and for other sellers to copy, so many downloads sell at low prices, where the fixed $0.20 and $0.25 take a larger percentage. Once you're repeatedly selling the same files to your own audience, the marketplace’s cut on every order is money you could keep by selling digital products through your own checkout. Etsy is strong for discovery; it's less suited to being your only sales channel once buyers already know you. For a wider view of where these products sell best, see our guide to the best platforms to sell digital products.

Etsy fees in the UK

UK sellers pay the same $0.20 listing and 6.5% transaction fee, but a different payment processing rate of 4% + £0.20, plus a regulatory operating fee. The listing fee is still charged in US dollars, so the exact pence amount moves with the exchange rate.

The regulatory operating fee is a small fixed percentage of the order total that Etsy charges in the UK and several other countries to cover the cost of digital services regulations. It's typically a fraction of a percent and appears as its own line on your bill. UK shops selling internationally will also meet the 2.5% currency conversion fee whenever a sale settles in a currency other than pounds. VAT on the fees themselves may also apply depending on your registration status.

How to price for profit on Etsy

The reliable way to protect your margin is to price backward from the profit you want, then decide sale by sale whether Etsy's discovery is worth its cut. A few practical moves help.

1. Price from target profit, not cost-plus. Start with the profit you want to keep, add your materials and the roughly 10% base Etsy fee, and set the price from there. Our Etsy fee calculator does this in reverse: enter what you want to net, and it shows the price to charge.
2. Treat Offsite Ads as an optional cost. For shops still under $10,000 a year, opt out if most of your sales come from your own promotion, since the 15% is only worth paying when Etsy brings you a buyer you wouldn't have reached on your own.
3. Batch and reuse listings. Because each listing renews at $0.20 on sale, high-turnover items keep the fixed cost low as a share of revenue; very cheap one-off listings rarely justify the fee.
4. Move repeat buyers to your own checkout. Etsy earns its fee by finding new customers, but a buyer who already follows you doesn't need the marketplace. Checkout Page runs on your own Stripe account and charges 0% in platform fees, with a free plan that covers up to $3,000 in monthly sales, so returning customers can buy from you directly without the per-order transaction fee. Many sellers keep Etsy for reach and take their regulars off it.

Etsy remains one of the best places for buyers who are already shopping to find, and for many makers, that discovery is worth the fees. The point isn't to leave it; it's to know your real per-sale cost so you can price with your eyes open and pick the right channel for each sale.

Sell your products, subscriptions, and event tickets with Checkout Page. Start free for up to $3,000 in monthly sales, with 0% platform fees. Start for free, no credit card required.

Etsy fees FAQ

How much does Etsy take per sale?

Etsy takes a $0.20 listing fee, a 6.5% transaction fee on the order total including shipping, and 3% + $0.25 in US payment processing. That's roughly 9.5% plus fixed fees on a typical sale. If the order comes through Offsite Ads, add 12% to 15%, which can push the total past 25%.

Does Etsy charge fees on shipping?

Yes. Etsy's 6.5% transaction fee applies to the full order total, including any shipping and gift-wrapping charges, not just the item price. Raising shipping to lower the item price won't reduce the fee. US sales tax is excluded from the transaction-fee base.

What are Etsy's fees for digital products?

Digital downloads pay the same fees as physical items: $0.20 to list, 6.5% on the sale, and 3% + $0.25 US processing. There's no shipping or materials cost, so you keep more per sale, but many digital items sell at low prices where the fixed $0.20 and $0.25 take a larger share.

Can I avoid Etsy's Offsite Ads fee?

Only if your shop is under $10,000 in annual sales, in which case you can opt out in your settings. Once you pass $10,000, Offsite Ads become mandatory, and you pay 12% on any sale they generate, capped at $100 per order. You never pay unless an Offsite Ad leads to a sale.

Are Etsy fees higher than selling on my own site?

Often, yes, for repeat sales. Etsy's roughly 10% base fee pays for marketplace discovery you don't get on your own site. Selling through your own checkout on Stripe costs the processing fee plus your platform's charge, which can be 0% in platform fees, so regular customers are usually cheaper to serve directly.